The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus utilized for, for example, a room cooling and heating unit by which the condensate water is evaporated and discharged, or a humidifier by which the water is evaporated to add moisture to the air in the room.
In a conventional room cooling and heating unit, an indoor heat exchanger is used as an evaporator during a room cooling operation to produce condensate water. In order to discharge the condensate water out of the room, a slinger ring is provided on an outdoor fan unit, and the condensate water is blown by this slinger ring against the outdoor heat exchanger which is used as a condenser. However, during a room heating operation the outdoor heat exchanger is used as an evoporator, and the condensate water produced by the outdoor heat exchanger freezes on a bottom plate. This has caused the slinger ring on the outdoor fan unit to contact the resultant ice to generate sounds, and the rotation of the outdoor fan to be prevented.
In view of these facts, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 44290/1978 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,766,751 and 3,079,766 disclose air conditioning units each of which is provided with a device for generating a vortex of air at the air suction side of an outdoor fan to lift the condensate water, instead of with a slinger ring.
Each of the condensate water lifting device disclosed in the above Japanese utility model publication and U.S. patents has a baffle board projecting from the lower portion of a fan orifice-carrying partition toward the air suction side of a fan, and a swirling member formed at one side of the baffle board. The recessed surface, which faces the fan, of the baffle board constitutes a low-pressure region, in which a vortex of air formed by a part of the air discharged by the fan and flowing thereinto is intensified by the swirling member so as to lift the condensate water.
In each of these structures, the air stream forming the vortex consists only of the discharge air stream flowing from the air discharge side of the fan to the low-pressure region, and, therefore, a powerful vortex cannot be obtained. Accordingly, it is difficult to lift a sufficient amount of condensate water even if the vortex is intensified by the swirling member.